Means for removing foreign matter from boiler water



Jan. 16, 1968 v, RQWE 3,363,765

MEANS FOR REMOVING FOREIGN MATTER FROM BOILER WATER Filed June 8, 1965 LESTER V. ROWE INVENTOR.

BY ATTY United States Patent 3,363,765 MEANS FOR REMOVING FOREIGN MATTER FROM BOILER WATER Lester V. Rowe, Rte. 1, Box 782, Salem, Oreg. 97304 Filed June 8, 1965, Ser. No. 462,222 1 Claim. (Cl. 210167) This invention relates to improvements in means for removing foreign matter such as scale, sediment and the like from boiler water, even from clear water fed into the boilers and remaining there after many gallons of this water has turned to steam. Scale and other foreign substances accumulating within a boiler can cause heating surfaces to overheat, tube failure by plugging. It causes carryover resulting in costly repairs to superheaters plugging of steam lines and equipment out on the lines and by abrasive action wears out steam lines and steam driven equipment. Such conditions by plugging lines to automatic feedwater controls and lines leading to the safety low water fuel to burner cut-off cause boiler explosion from low water and the sediment in the boiler water can cause safety valves to malfunction also resulting in boiler explosion. Statistics have proven that sediment in boiler water has caused more boiler damage and boiler accidents than any other single cause since boilers came into existence.

It is common practice to blow enough muddy water out of boilers each day to sufficiently dilute the muddy water so that boiler water compound additives will condition the sediment remaining in the boiler so it will not form scale. This results in Wasting water, and heat in the water and boiler compounds.

Present clay purchasers soon forget about maintenance because the boilers are reputed to be completely automatic. Boiler attendants are lulled into a false sense of security because of the alleged automatic safety devices but because of sediment and other foreign matter in boiler water, as aforesaid, the boilers cannot be automatic so far as the safety features are concerned.

Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of my invention to provide a boiler water circulating and filtering system which is of simple, eflicient, durable and inexpensive construction, positive and fool-proof in operation, requiring the manipulation of only two valves to divert normal circulation through the boiler and filter to bypass flow from one end of the boiler through the filter and out through a blowdown pipe.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a horizontally disposed steam =boiler equipped with water circulating and filtering apparatus in accordance with my invention.

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of FIGURE 1 with parts omitted and a fragment of the boiler end wall broken away.

FIGURE 3 is a piping diagram.

FIGURE 4 is a modified piping diagram.

With continuing reference to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate like parts, reference numeral 1 indicates generally a steam boiler which is exemplary of any closed vessel in which steam is generated under pressure by the application of heat from combustible fuels, electricity, nuclear energy, or any other source of heat.

The boiler is provided with two feed-water inlets 2 and 3 one on each side for selective attachment to the most convenient feed-water supply pump (not shown). The bottom of the opposite end of the boiler is provided with an outlet 4 from which circulating water can flow into a blowdown pipe 5, out from a T-fitting 6, through a normally open stop valve 7, a second T-fitting 8, a motor driven constant delivery uni-directional flow pump 9, a pressure gauge 10, into one side of a filter 11 and outwardly and upwardly from the other side thereof through a normally open valve 12 into the selected water intake 2 through a fitting 13. The pipe line or sections interconnecting these last mentioned components 6-12, as shown, will be hereinafter referred to as a first conduit.

The filter is exemplary of any such devices utilizing filtering elements which may be made of cloth, paper, steel disks or any other material of a porous nature or any power-driven centrifugal or electrical devices capable of effectively filtering boiler water being dealt with.

The bottom of the filter is connected through a normally closed valve 14 and a second conduit 15 with the blowdown pipe 5 through a T-fitting 16. Two normally closed hand valves 18-19 are interposed in the blowdown pipe 5 between the T-fittings 6 and 16.

The capacity of the filter 11 is in relation to the size of the boiler and to the estimated total solids it will have to remove from the circulating water.

Moreover, the time and duration of back-flushing the filter can be governed by solenoid actuated valves (not shown) in circuit with time clocks, electric timers and the like, thus rendering one filter capable of servicing dif ferent size boilers under various boiler conditions.

As illustrated in FIGURE 3, the normal flow of all the water in circulation through the boiler and filter is in the direction of the full line arrows. A reverse flow from the boiler through the filter and into the blowdown pipe 5 is indicated by the dotted line arrows and the flow for test ing water clarity is in the direction of the broken line arrows from the boiler through the now open valves 7 and 21 out through a drainage pipe 22.

In the modified form of piping diagram illustrated in FIGURE 4, the first conduit is extended by pipe 25 from its connection as at 26, through a valve 12A, with one side of the filter 11A to an inlet 27 on the bottom of the boiler opposite the blowdown end or outlet 4A, so that water will be circulated over the entire length of the boiler instead of only between the inlet 2 and outlet 4 as in the first form of piping diagram. The disposition of the components 4A, 5A, 7A, 9A, 11A, 14A, 15A, 18A, 19A and 21A and 22A is the same as their counterparts in FIGURES 1 and 3, as is their functional relationship including the valve 12A.

From the foregoing and with reference to the flow diagrams of FIGURES 1 and 3, it will be readily understood that all the boiler water will circulate through the filtering means.

The valve 18 is fast acting and effective in breaking up scale passing therethrough while valve 19 is slow acting and can be regulated to eliminate shock in the system.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided new and novel means for effectively eliminating the corroding characteristics of water which is probably the most destructive force a boiler can meet. Corrosion eats away metal and damages it beyond repair. It may occur in small pits or as a wasting of large areas. Corroding action arises from the entrained oxygen and acidproducing salts of boiler feed-water which set up chemical reaction with the metal of the boiler. Large industrial plants have experimented with various methods of purifyin-g boiler feed-Water, but since foregin matter in water varies with changing conditions it readily can be seen why this problem has heretofore been one of the biggest factors in boiler deterioration.

While I have shown particular forms of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for removing foreign matter from Water in a boiler,

a blowdown pipe is open communication with one end of the boiler,

a first conduit in communication at one end with the interior of the boiler and its opposite end with said blowdown pipe,

a power driven constant delivery uni-directional water circulating pump in said first conduit.

filtering means in the first conduit between its said one end and said pump,

second conduit means interconnecting said filter with said blowdown pipe,

first and second valve means in said first conduit between said circulating pump and said blowdown pipe,

third valve means in said first conduit between its said one end and said filter,

fourth and fifth valve means in said blowdown pipe between said first and second conduits, and

a sixth valve means in said second conduit between the filter and the blowdown pipe, whereby operation of said pump with said first and third valves open and said second and sixth valves closed water will normally circulate through the first conduit and filter back into the boiler and whereby when the pump is inoperative with the first, second, fourth and fifth valves closed and said third and sixth valves open boiler water will flow through the open third valve, filter, open sixth valve and second conduit into the blowdown line below said fourth and fifth valves, and whereby with said fourth, fifth and sixth valves closed and said first, second and third valves open water may be drained from said first conduit through said open second valve for testing water clarity.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 669,746 3/1901 Garrigus 210167 X 1,700,716 1/1929 Ostertag 210167 X 1,895,635 1/1933 McDonald 210167 X 2,240,206 4/1941 Caldwell 210167 X 2,629,367 2/1953 Kahn et al. 210167 X REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner.

J. DE CESARE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR REMOVING FOREIGN MATTER FROM WATER IN A BOILER, A BLOWDOWN PIPE IS OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH ONE END OF THE BOILER, A FIRST CONDUIT AN COMMUNICATION AT ONE END WITH THE INTERIOR OF THE BOILER AND ITS OPPOSITE END WITH SAID BLOWDOWN PIPE, A POWER DRIVEN CONSTANT DELIVERY UNI-DIRECTIONAL WATER CIRCULATING PUMP IN SAID FIRST CONDUIT FILTERING MEANS IN THE FIRST CONDUIT BETWEEN ITS SAID ONE END AND SAID PUMP, SECOND CONDUIT MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID FILTER WITH SAID BLOWDOWN PIPE, FIRST AND SECOND VALVE MEANS IN SAID FIRST CONDUIT BETWEEN SAID CIRCULATING PUMP AND SAID BLOWDOWN PIPE, THIRD VALVE MEANS IN SAID FIRST CONDUIT BETWEEN ITS SAID ONE END AND SAID FILTER, FOURTH AND FIFTH VALVE MEANS IN SAID BLOWDOWN PIPE BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONDUITS, AND A SIXTH VALVE MEANS IN SAID SECOND CONDUIT BETWEEN THE FILTER AND THE BLOWDOWM PIPE, WHEREBY OPERATION OF SAID PUMP WITH SAID FIRST AND THIRD VALVES OPEN AND SAID SECOND AND SIXTH VALVES CLOSED WATER WILL NORMALLY CIRCULATE THROUGH THE FIRST CONDUIT AND FILTER BACK INTO THE BOLIER AND WHEREBY WHEN THE PUMP IS INOPERATIVE WITH THE FIRST, SECOND, FOURTH AND FIFTH VALVES CLOSED AND SAID THIRD AND SIXTH VALVES OPEN BOILER WATER WILL FLOW THROUGH THE OPEN THIRD VALVE, FILTER, OPEN SIXTH VALVE AND SECOND CONDUIT INTO THE BLOWDOWN LINE BELOW SAID FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH VALVES AND WHEREBY WITH SAID FOURTH AND FIFTH VALVES CLOSED AND SAID FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD VALVES OPEN WATER MAY BE DRAINED FROM SAID FIRST CONDUIT THROUGH SAID OPEN SECOND VALVE FOR TESTING WATER CLARITY. 